Guide to Grammar and Style -- F
From the Guide to Grammar and Style by Jack Lynch.
Comments are welcome.
The metaphor is often abused. Don't use a
facet, the hard polished side of a gem, to stand in for
the more general "aspect" unless it's really appropriate.
Usually unnecessary.
You can often simply drop the fact and go with that
alone: instead of "I'm surprised by the fact that the
report is incomplete," write "I'm surprised that the
report is incomplete." And don't be afraid to rewrite the sentence altogether.
Though very few people bother with the difference these days,
there is a traditional distinction: farther applies to
physical distance, further to metaphorical distance. You
travel farther, but pursue a topic further. Don't
get upset if you can't keep it straight; no one will notice.
Fewer versus Less.
See Less
versus Fewer.
An ugly, jargony word.
The jury is
still out on whether to use first or firstly,
second or secondly, &c. Traditional usage had
first, secondly, thirdly, but this is too inconsistent for
modern taste. Most guides prefer just plain old first,
second, third, and so forth, without the -ly
ending.
Grammarians have divided
references to people into three categories, to refer to I,
you, and he or she. The first person is I, me,
my, we, our, and so on. The second person is you and your.
The third person is he, she, they, their, his, hers, him, her,
and so on. While you need to pay close attention to these when you
study a foreign language, most issues of person are instinctive to
native English speakers. For the few times when you should pay
attention, see Shall versus Will and
Sexist Language and the Indefinite Third
Person.
The Following.
See The
Above.
Don't play with fonts: leave
desktop publishing to the desktop publishers. Publishers don't
want fancy fonts; they want your writing to look as if it had
been typed on a manual typewriter, circa 1958. Don't count
on having professors who judge your work based on the typeface.
Spend your time writing.
See also Justification.
Footnotes.
See Citation.
Foreign
words and phrases shouldn't become a bête noire,
but, ceteris paribus, English sentences should be in
English. Clarity is the sine qua
non of good writing, and the overuse of such words just
confuses your readers -- satis, superque. Remember,
Allzuviel is nicht genug. Besides, there's nothing worse
than trying to impress and getting it wrong. When it comes to
foreign phrases, chi non fa, non falla. (Das versteht
sich von selbst.)
Many -- most? -- of
the rules in this guide are concerned with written rather
than spoken English, and, what's more, with written
language of a certain degree of formality. That's to say,
I'm trying to describe the kind of prose that's appropriate for a
college English paper. Many no-no's in a college English paper,
though, are perfectly acceptable in other contexts; don't get dogmatic on me. See Audience.
Fortuitous
means "happening by chance," and not necessarily a lucky chance.
Don't use it interchangeably with fortunate. [Entry added 14 August 1999]
Fragments.
See Sentence
Fragments.
Functionality is too often as a twisted way of saying
function. See also Methodology.